Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
Prof A Ströh, Dean
Telephone number: 012 420 3201
Fax number: 012 420 3890
E-mail address: dean.nas@up.ac.za
Message by the Dean
During 2009, the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences contributed significantly to the production of high-quality, internationally recognised research publications. The more than 280 Department of Higher Education and Training units recorded constitute approximately 25% of the total publication output of the University of Pretoria. It is noteworthy that, through the faculty’s research endeavours for 2009, 124 MSc and 44 PhD students graduated.
In addition to this, the faculty experienced a significant growth in the number of researchers who are recognised internationally for their contributions. The faculty has 109 scientists who have been rated by the NRF, which is an increase of more than 20% from the previous year.
Prof Nigel Bennett and Prof Brian Rand were both awarded A-ratings by the NRF in the most recent round of evaluations.
Although it is not possible to mention all the special awards of recognition received by scientists in the faculty, it is appropriate to note the following outstanding achievements: Prof John Taylor of the Department of Food Science received the University of Pretoria’s Chancellor’s Award for Research. He specialises in the indigenous African cereals, sorghum and millets. Two of the faculty’s scientists were honoured by highly prestigious awards from the African Union (AU). Prof Pat Eriksson was the winner of the AU Continental Scientist Awards, 2009. He is an A-rated scientist and was personally congratulated by President Jacob Zuma at the prestigious award ceremony. Prof Brenda Wingfield was honoured with an AU Woman Scientist Regional Award, which recognises her great scientific achievements and contribution through science to the socio-economic development of Africa. In addition, Prof Wingfield was appointed in one of the two newly established deputy dean positions in the faculty, where her portfolio focuses on research and postgraduate studies.
Being people-centred, the faculty continuously seeks opportunities to recruit and appoint highly recognised researchers to either strengthen its existing research teams or to introduce new and relevant research foci in the faculty.
In 2009, the faculty was successful in recruiting Prof Mathieu Rouget, a young researcher, to the Department of Plant Science. Prof Rouget specialises in biodiversity conservation and climate change, and currently has an h-index of 22, which implies that at least 22 of his publications have been cited more than 22 times. The multidisciplinary nature of his work will combine ecology, geography and economics, and will address important issues such as land use and biodiversity planning, climate change and ecosystem services.
Prof Wlady Altermann was recruited as the first incumbent of the newly established Kumba Exxaro Chair in Geodynamics at UP from 1 July 2009. Prof Altermann received a B1-rating from the NRF in recognition of his stature as one of the world’s leading precambrian geologists and specialists on archaean geodynamics.
In September 2009, Prof Paxie Chirwa joined UP as the incumbent of the newly established SAFCOL Chair in Forestry. Discussions are underway with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE) to establish a human capital development programme for postgraduate studies on the African continent. UP will be a leading partner in this initiative.
Prof Subhabrata Chakraborti from the Department of Information Systems, Statistics and Management Science, University of Alabama, USA, was offered a position as research professor in the Department of Statistics. This position forms part of the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARCHI) of the NRF. Prof Chakraborti has established a strong and very productive relationship with the Department of Statistics since his first visit in 2003 under the Fulbright Scholarship Program. His research interests are mainly in the field of parametric and nonparametric statistical process control. It is envisaged that Prof Chakraborti will take up this position during 2010.
In terms of buildings and research facilities, the faculty was successful (with major support from UP’s executive) in obtaining significant funds from the Department of Higher Education and Training for the construction of a new R100 million building that will form a hub for Plant Sciences at UP. This project started early in 2010 and the building will be located to the north of the existing Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI). The new facilities will not only increase the potential for further growth, but will also enhance research collaboration in the various research focus areas of plant science in a modern building with research laboratories that are dedicated to conducting innovative work in fields such as ecology, medicinal plant science, plant biotechnology and taxonomy. For example, South Africa’s indigenous plants have many strategies to survive harsh environmental conditions and pathogens. Some even produce compounds to outcompete other plant species for survival. The vision of the plant scientists is to potentially transfer some of the mechanisms or genes that control these processes safely to the crops that feed us and thus increase the yields of these crops. In addition, plant scientists are studying indigenous plants with the aim of finding medicines to cure some of the serious infectious diseases that are a threat to the health of South Africans.
The new Plant Science Building will have a seminar hall to seat about 100 people and two large undergraduate laboratories, a microscopy laboratory that will seat 160 students and a biotechnology laboratory to seat 120 students. The basement will make provision for the parking of 100 vehicles and the roof will be used to accommodate a glass-covered greenhouse, where plants will be cultivated for experimental purposes.
This initiative will bring expertise from various departments together in the biological, agricultural and food sciences (Plant Science, Plant Production and Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Genetics, Biochemistry, and Bioinformatics) in order to work on relevant multidisciplinary projects. It is noteworthy to mention that UP is ranked 54th in the world (out of 887 institutions) by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in the category Plant and Animal Science, based on the number of accredited publications, and 122nd in the world based on the number of citations. The University of Pretoria has also produced a quarter of the publications nationally in this field over the past ten years.
In addition to the new Plant Science Building, the faculty received additional funding from the Department of Higher Education and Training, which was supplemented by UP to upgrade existing research and teaching facilities. The funding will be utilised to upgrade laboratories in Chemistry (R11.6 million) and Zoology and Entomology (R15 million). An additional R15.4 million will be allocated to new equipment in physical sciences, food science and bioinformatics.
The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UP is one of the most diverse science faculties in South Africa. This can be attested by the broad scope of research findings that are reported in the section that follows.
Prof Anton Ströh
Dean: Natural and Agricultural Sciences
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